Milton josiah roberts



(No Model.)

M. J. ROBERTS. V CORSET AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME. No. 423,490.

Patented Mar. 18,1890

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UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

MILTON JOSIAH ROBERTS, OF NEY YORK, N. Y.

CORSET AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,490, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed June 18, 1887. Renewed August 14, 1889. Serial No. 320,694. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILTON J OSIAH- ROB- ERTS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of ire-Corsets, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention has for its object the production of a braided-wire corset.

The invention consists' in a novel method of making said corset and in the article produced by said method. The braided wire is made to conform to the shape of the bust or portion of the human figure which the corset is designed to fit. Its interlacing wires are then caught by solder or molten metal where they intersect or cross each other to hold the corset in form, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in theclaims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which the same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a braided-wire cylinder or tube in illustration of the first step in my improved method. Fig. 2 is a face view, upon a larger scale, of a portion of the braided wire of which said cylinder or tube is composed. Fig. 3' is aperspective view of the braided-wire tube after it has been drawn over a form corresponding in shape to the bust or portion of the human figure to which it is required to make the corset conform. The dotted lines in the figure indicate the position of lines previouslydrawn upon the model which mark the limits of the upper and lower borders of the corset, as well as the position and direction of the stays which are required. This figure illustrates the second step or stage in my method or process of making the corset. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the corset with stays of appropriate, length and degree of stiffness secured in position'upon the surface of the cylinder of wire after it has been applied over the model. Fig. 5 is a face view, upon a larger scale, of a portion of the braided wire as it appears in the last-named stage of its manufacture into a corset. Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the finished corset; and Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of one-half of the finished corset covered with a non-metallic textile fabric, which is represented as broken away'in order to expose the braided wire.

In making one of my corsets I first braid the wire a a into the form of a whole cylinder or tube, as shown in Fig. 1. This may be done by braiding the wire either over a beveled or tapering core in a wire-braiding machine, as has before been done for making other articles than corsets. From a continuous braided- ,wire cylinder of the proper diameter, such as has been described, pieces or cylinders of sufficient length from which to make a corset are cut. Such a section of a longitudinallyundivided braided -wire cylinder is next shoved, drawn, or forced over a form or model made of any suitable material and of a configuration corresponding to the shape of the bust or portion of the humanfigure which the corset is designed to fit. By linear traction applied to the ends of the cylinder of wire thus placed over the form the interlacing wires of which the cylinder is composed are made 'to conform to the varying contour or form over which ithas been placed. The ends of the wires composing the braided cylinder or tubular bodywhich project above and below the model or beyond the two ends of the model m are next drawn closely together and secured in this position by cords or bands I) or otherwise, as shown in Fig. 3. By this means the wires composing the braided cylinder or tubular body are temporarily confined in a plane corresponding to the contour of the model. If there is any place upon the surface of the model with which the wire does not come in contact, as sometimes may happen at a point immediately underneath very prominent breasts, a few gentle .taps against the wire with a mallet, hammer, or other instrument may be necessary to secure the accuracy of adaptation to the model that positionby means of a thread of wire (1,

passed through the meshes of braided wire and over the stays, as clearly shown in Fig.

5. Stays c 0', provided with eyelets, are also placed in position behind-one on either side of the median lineand secured in position in the manner indicated. Additional stays c at the side, as shown in Fig. 4, one of which only is here seen, may likewise be secured in the same manner.

Having adapted the wire cylinder or tubular body to the model and secured the desired stays in position, as indicated, the model,with its wire cover and stays, is plunged into a bath of molten tin or other metal, al-. loy, or solder, and quickly withdrawn from the bath. wires a a at their points of intersectionthat is, where they pass in a detached manner over and under each other, respectivelyare caught or united at said points, as shown at s in Fig. 5, as other articles made of interlacing orintertwisted wires have been caught at their points of intersection. Such locking or uniting of the interlacing wire while. on the mandrel or form will serve to hold the corset in shape after it has been dividedlongitudinally between the upright stays in front and behind and removed from the surface of the model. Of course the same resuit can be obtained by aslower processviz., by individually soldering the Wires at their intersection in a suflicient number of places to maintain the form of the corset, such soldering'to be done without dipping the model into molten metal.

The application of the stays to the surface of the braided-wire tubular body might be Figs. 3 and 4, indicating the upper margin of the corset, may be trimmedoff. The same By this means the interlacing.

process is repeated for the lower margin of the corset on the line 00'. The corset is now complete, subject, of course, to any after trimming, covering, or attachment of fastening to hold the divided corset or corset-sections together when on the person. 1

The corset may be plated with nickel or other metallic substance. The upright stays, as well as the margins of the corset, can now be covered or bound with suitable material; or each section of the corset may be entirely covered inside and outside by a non-metallic textile fabric '9 of fine mesh, so as to almost, if not quite, exclude from view the wire and stays of which it is composed. (See Fig. 7.)

By this method of manufacture I am enabledto produce a wire corset which is easily made and is both light and resilient, and conforms exactly to the shape of the bust or figure of the person, the wires composing the meshes of the corset being applied to the form as a pliable, resilient, hollow cylinder or tube, while the subsequent soldering of them at their points of intersection serves to hold them in placeand the corset in form.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent I v l. The method herein described of making wire corsets, which consists in first braiding wire around asuitable core into the form of a hollow cylinder or tube, then drawing said cylinder or tube over a form or mandrel correspo ndingin shape to that of the bust or figure of the person and fitting said Wire cylinder or tube to said form, model, or mandrel, then sol dering the wires composing such cylinder or tube at their points of intersection, and subsequently longitudinally dividing said cylinder or tube and removing it from the form or mandrel and trimming or finishing it, as desired, substantially as set forth.

2. As an article of manufacture, a wire corset composed ofwire strands permanently united at their points of intersection, essentially as specified. 1

MILTON JOSIAH ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

A. GREGORY, G. SEDGWIO 

